EHC Needs Assessment (EHCNA) Process
Background
An Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA – sometimes called a statutory assessment) is a legal process carried out by the Local Authority (LA) to determine whether a child or young person’s needs an EHC plan and, if so, the support (provision) contained within it.
If your child / young person is struggling in school and their support doesn’t seem to be working, it’s natural to ask yourself whether they might need an Education Health and Care needs assessment (EHCNA).
Most children and young people with SEND go to a mainstream nursery, school or college and are supported by their staff, resources and funds. Teachers and other professionals regularly review how a child or young person is getting on and support them to learn, develop and feel safe. This is called special educational needs support or SEN support.
In reality, only a few children and young people have an EHC needs assessment and plan. For every ten children and young people in England with special education needs or a disability (SEND), two will need an EHC plan and eight won’t.
How to make a request?
(a) The child or young person has or may have special educational needs (SEN); and
(b) It may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person in accordance with an EHC Plan.
Despite the relatively low threshold of the two-part legal test, many LA’s apply their own criteria and policies when considering and deciding on the EHCNA request they have received.
Please remember that legislation overrides and supersede any local parameters or policies. This means the LA must only consider whether the two-part legal test has been answered when considering whether or not to carry out an EHC needs assessment.
You also may find the following case law helpful
Cambridgeshire County Council v FL-J [2016] UKUT 0225 (AAC): The test for carrying out an EHC needs assessment is “provisional and predictive” – it simply needs to be shown that the child or young person may need support at a level which the school or other setting is unable to provide without an EHC plan.
Buckinghamshire County Council v HW (SEN) [2013] UKUT 0470 (AAC): When considering whether to assess, the test is whether it may be necessary for support to be provided through a Statement or an EHC plan; necessary means “somewhere between indispensable and useful or reasonable”. An LA must consider not only the present situation but also take into account future changes such as an upcoming change of school.
MC v Somerset County Council (SEN) [2015] UKUT 0461 (AAC): An EHC needs assessment may be necessary in order to access enforceable rights – for example, where a school could theoretically do more to support a pupil but is unable or unwilling to do so, and so an EHC plan is necessary to access that support.
Who can make a request?
An EHC Needs Assessment can be requested by the child or young person’s parent or carer, the young person themselves (if they are 16-25), and professionals acting on behalf of a setting or institution (with consent from the parent/young person).
Additionally, a request can also be made by anyone else who thinks an assessment may be necessary, including doctors, health visitors, teachers, parents and family friends.
Additional Information
The SEND Code of Practice, 2015 (9.14), states that in considering whether an EHC needs assessment is necessary, the LA should consider whether there is evidence that despite the early years provider, school or Post-16 institution having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify, assess and meet the special educational needs of the child or young person, the child or young person has not made expected progress.
To inform their decision the LA will need to take into account a wide range of evidence, and should pay particular attention to:
– Evidence of your child’s academic attainment (or developmental milestones in younger children) and rate of progress.
– Information about the nature, extent and context of your child’s SEN.
– Evidence of the action already taken by the school or other setting to support your child.
– Evidence that where progress has been made, it has only been as the result of lots of intervention and support over and above what is usually provided for children of the same age, and
– Evidence of your child’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs, taking into account relevant evidence from clinicians and other health professionals and what has been done to meet these by other agencies.
Whilst these are important considerations for the LA to take into account when deciding whether or not to carry out an EHC Needs Assessment. It’s important for you to remember that they are not legal requirements, and they do not form part of the two-part legal test itself.
When should I hear back?
The LA will look at all the information and then must tell you whether they have decided:
- To start the EHC needs assessment immediately.
- That an EHC needs assessment is not necessary.
Notification of the LA’s decision must be given within a maximum of 6 weeks from the date of receipt. This is set out in Regulation 4 (1) of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014. Your LA should always reply to you as a parent or young person, even where the request was made by the school or college.
Local Authorities must consult the child and the child’s parent or the young person throughout the process of assessment and production of an EHC plan. They should also involve the child as far as possible in this process. The needs of the individual child and young person should sit at the heart of the assessment and planning process.
The SEND Code of Practice, 2015 (9.21)
The LA will write to you to tell you that their decision is to carry out an assessment and you will be allocated a SEN Case Officer who will take you through the process from start to finish.
You will be asked to sign a contract form that will give the LA permission to share information between the people who will be involved in the assessment. The LA will also explain how the assessment process will work, including how long each stage of the process will take, and make a list of the people who are already involved in supporting your child or young person.
The LA will ask a number of other people for information about your child. This advice should include information about:
- Your child’s / young person’s education, health and care needs.
- The desired outcomes for your child / young person.
- The special educational, health and care provision that might be required to meet their needs and achieve the desired outcomes.
The LA must ask for advice and information from:
- Parents (or the young person).
- Your child’s early years setting, school or Post-16 provider, if they have a vision or hearing impairment the LA must also seek information and advice from a suitably qualified teacher.
- An educational psychologist.
- Health professionals who work with your child. This might include a paediatrician, speech and language therapist, physiotherapist or occupational therapist.
- Social care professionals.
- Any professional/services considered appropriate to be able to provide information, such as Virtual School for a looked after child, Early Help Assessments, Youth offending teams or Young offender’s institutions, etc.
- Provisions to assist the child or young person in preparation for adulthood and independent living (from Year 9 onwards).
- Any person requested by the child’s parent or young person, where the LA considers it reasonable to do so.
Once the LA has all the information and advice, it must decide whether your child needs an education, health and care plan or whether your child’s needs can be met through SEN support. You will receive a copy of all the reports when the needs assessment is finished.
If your child’s needs can be met through SEN support, the LA must tell you of its decision within 16 weeks of receiving the request.
The LA must tell you why it thinks that an EHC needs assessment is not needed (their reasons based on the evidence provided and its application to the two-part legal test, as defined within section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014), formally in writing, within a maximum of six weeks.
This is set out in Regulation 4 (1) of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014.
The LA decision letter must give you certain information, including your right to appeal the decision to the SEND Tribunal, details of an independent mediation service for you to contact and the details of how to get further information, advice, or support (SENDIASS).
The deadline for appealing is two months from the date of the decision or one month from the date of the mediation certificate, whichever is the later.
The LA does not have to consider whether an EHC needs assessment is necessary where it has already undertaken an EHC needs assessment for a child or young person during the previous six months, although the LA may choose to do so if it thinks it is appropriate.
Key timescales to remember
- When the LA receives a request for an EHC needs assessment, this is the start date.
- The LA decides whether an EHC needs assessment is needed within a maxium of 6 weeks from the date of receipt.
- The EHC needs assessment starts as soon as the decision is made.
- If the LA decides not to issue a plan, they must tell the parents or young person within 16 weeks of the start date.
- Legislation overrides and supersede any local parameters or policies.
Decision to issue an EHC plan
If the LA decides to issue a plan, they will send a draft EHC plan to parents or the young person.
The LA must send the draft EHC plan (including the appendices containing the advice and information gathered during the EHC needs assessment) to you or to the young person and give you a minimum of 15 days to give views and representations on the content.
During this period, the LA must make itself available for a meeting with you or the young person on request if they wish to discuss the content of the draft EHC plan.
Decision not to issue an EHC plan
Following the completion of an EHC needs assessment, if the LA decides that an EHC plan is not necessary, it must notify you or the young person, the early year’s provider, school or post-16 institution currently attended, and the health service and give the reasons for its decision. The notification must take place as soon as practicable and and at the latest, within 16 weeks of the initial request of the child or young person having otherwise been brought to the LA’s attention.
The LA should also ensure that you or the young person are aware of the resources available to meet SEN in mainstream provision and other support set out in the Local Offer.
The LA should also provide written feedback collected during the EHC needs assessment process, which you, the young person, early year’s provider, school or post-16 institution can understand and may find useful, including evidence and reports from professionals. This information can then inform how outcomes sought for the child or young person can be achieved through special educational provision made by the early year’s provider, school or post-16 institution and coordinated support from other agencies.
The whole assessment process must take no longer than 20 weeks (except in a few exceptional circumstances) from the LA receiving the request for assessment.
The LA decision letter must again give you certain information, including your right to appeal the decision to the SEND Tribunal, details of an independent mediation service for you to contact and the details of how to get further information, advice, or support (SENDIASS).
The deadline for appealing is two months from the date of the decision or one month from the date of the mediation certificate, whichever is the later.
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